A look into what constitutes a 457 visa

Updated
March 05, 2013 18:36:00

So who is it that uses 457 visas? How do they work? And what do you have to do to get one? Sharon and Gerard Halpin are freshly-minted Australian citizens who started their working life in the mining town of Kalgoorlie on a 457 visa.

SHARON HALPIN: When we got to Kalgoorlie then was nearly no-one our age, Irish, and now there's just loads and loads. Yeah, there's just so many people leaving Ireland every week.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: Both the Halpins are skilled workers - Sharon is an account administrator and Gerard a diesel fitter.

Neither was happy with the limited opportunities in their homeland - so they emigrated to Australia in 2007.

Originally both came on Gerard's 457 visa.

SHARON HALPIN: The guy that Gerard had, was working for, or was going to work for, had to send in a nomination form so that he could become a sponsor. Once that was cleared, which only took a couple of weeks, we could then enter up all our forms and apply. Once they were in and passed we had to do a medical. Took about two months back then. So that was in 2007, late 2007.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: But it didn't all go according to plan though?

SHARON HALPIN: No, it all went fine. But then when things got a bit quiet they let go of the people (inaudible).

MARTIN CUDDIHY: When Gerard was let go it was a scramble to find another sponsor and Sharon too applied for a visa.

They're both now Australian citizens, but it's taken years.

SHARON HALPIN: It's not easy because it's all a waiting game, forms, getting everything in, having to get all the certificates, birth certificates, everything. We brought all that over, had to get it signed off by Justice of the Peace, had to get police clearances.

They wanted to know why we had been travelling, they needed to know our parents' details and our brothers' and sisters' details and everything like that. So there's a lot of form filling and waiting. So that was, and obviously then money-wise as well, quite expensive.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: The Halpin story is repeated nation-wide. Across the country more than 80,000 new arrivals are working on 457 visas.

That's about 5 per cent of the workforce.

It might surprise you to know that almost two thirds of those people have a university degree or a post-graduate qualification. And the average wage is close to $90,000 a year.

But the system has advantages for employers as well.

SHARON HALPIN: It's a good way for an employer to get workers in and then because they're sponsored they have to stay with the employer so obviously it's a bit of a safe haven for the employer as well.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: Bruce Campbell-Fraser is the manager of public affairs at the Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy.

He says it's expensive to bring in people on a 457 and it's usually a last resort.

BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER: It's very expensive to undertake an overseas recruitment search, relocate someone, usually with their family as well. And you know, on top of that, paying Australian wages and conditions.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: So where are these people coming from? Where do you see a lot of them coming from?

BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER: You know, historically and certainly in contemporary programs the number one place is Europe, predominantly out of the UK and Ireland. We're seeing increases out of India as well. Predominantly we're chasing at this point a lot of engineers, seems to be the number one occupation. Then we have some of those key geological or earth sciences like geologists and metallurgists etc.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: Before 2009, foreign workers only had to pay the minimum wage and they could be working alongside an Australian colleague being paid much more. Are you sure this isn't continuing?

BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER: It's certainly not the case in the resources sector.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: Still in Western Australia after six years, Sharon and Gerard Halpin are what you might call a 457 success story.

They have one son, two-year-old Conor, and another baby on the way.

And they're expecting the flow of people from the emerald isle will continue.

SHARON HALPIN: I talked to my mother at the weekend and she was in Dublin and they were holding a big expo for Canada and Australia in Dublin for people that are still looking into leaving. And yeah, so it's... but the 457 is definitely the best option to begin with.